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Just what the world needs, more vimeo videos on "artisans" with even shallower DOF.

I've just finished up a shoot using the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera on a professional shoot, so I thought I would share my experience with the camera in this environment. (I will post the video when its finished up)   The Shoot   My business was hired to shoot a music video for a concept on Green Screen. It was a parody of infomercials, so the task was to film various models and comedic hosts demonstrating several very silly products. I was the DoP/camera operator, and we also had a director, 2 assistants, 2 photographers and  a make up artist.   The Gear The Blackmagic was mounted on rails in a Wooden Camera Cage, with just a Follow Focus. I had 4 x Sandisk Extreme Pro SD cards, 3 batteries, mic, charger and AC adapter. The camera was connected through HDMI to an external monitor. The green screen was lit with 2 Kino Flo 4-Banks, and the models with Kino Flo Diva 401s and Dedolights.    I would not recommend the Wooden Cage. Its just ok. The screw holes all over it make no sense. The battery charger was the worst piece of kit I've ever used in the history of video production. Cant remember the brand (begins with a H), but lots of companies are selling it with the camera as a bundle. You can put AA batteries in it and its so fiddly. It sucks.    Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Feedback Whilst I was impressed with the BMPCC, I did have various issues with the camera - mostly with the lack of in-camera formatting and batteries. I will display these through Pros and Cons.    Pros + The build is solid and of high quality   + The back screen is nice and clear, a very decent size!   + Very simple to use meaning you can focus on creating   + Image quality is fantastic. Compared it with the GH3 in flat profile and the difference was staggering   + Skin tones are beautiful, very organic   + Not much dynamic range to see, but the roll-off was very smooth on the models   + The size makes it easy to handle and not a pain to shift around. Nice and quick.   + Zebras are very useful. Wish I had these on my GH3!   Cons - This camera eats memory cards for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Used all of the 4 x 32gb cards. So the cost of running this camera at a professional level could be quite costly.   - Battery life is dreadful. The shoot was 8 hours long and we went through 9 full charges.    - No ability to format cards in camera. Completely unacceptable. We ran out of space, backed up the cards and tried to format one to exFat on a Mac. Camera wasn't having it. 10 mins left til close. So had to use GH3 for last 2 shots. Director wasn't happy.    - No indication of recording time left. No idea if 1 second left on 60 mins! Again, this is unacceptable.    - Auto focus is absolutely terrible. I don't use it much, but its useful when you are against time in a studio. Just doesn't work. Why bother Blackmagic? Your features HAVE to work.    - Focus Peaking is temperamental. It works, then sort of does, then doesn't at all. Maybe something wrong with this unit?    - Manual focusing with the Panny zooms seemed to be a lot more fiddly on this camera than on the GH3. It seems to be much more intricate and I have no idea why that is. The director agreed.    - No articulated screen. Its 2013. I don't want to sit on the floor or bend over in front of models to see the screen.    - Moire. Can't handle fine lines.    Conclusion Having only use the camera once for a studio shoot, its hard for me to give a full opinion on this camera - but from my experience there are some definite quirks that I feel are a major issue for its use in a professional (and general usage) environment for its target 'DSLR video user' market.    Ok, it shoots in 10 bit ProRes and has a beautiful image. It will shoot RAW soon. Its cheap. But...   For professional use, the fact you cant see how much recording time you have left or even format a card is a completely ludicrous omission and causes issues. Issues that take more time, more work, more stress, more stuff you shouldn't have to deal with in a camera. Blackmagic need to sort this out, it cant be difficult.    The fact the the camera is labelled 'Pocket' is mind boggling. Batteries constantly need charging, and its always a worry. If you were to really carry this round in your 'Pocket', expect to need a bagful of batteries. Or you are screwed.    The focusing area of the camera also seems unfinished. Auto focus doesn't work, and peaking just can't be arsed half the time. Didn't they test the camera, or is it a good-egg, bad egg thing with the production line?    My opinion so far is that this camera isn't completely ready for use in a professional environment, and is better suited as a hobbyist item for (very) short films. If you can afford lots of storage, 60 billion batteries and a ton of memory cards, and dont mind a few workarounds then you should enjoy it - its a cool gadget with a beautiful image that a video DSLR really needs.    Its very quirky and needs more work, which is expected of a 1st generation model. Lets hope for more improvements and a Blackmagic employee facepalm about essential little features that are unacceptably missing.    I like it. Its just a pain in the arse. Like my fiance. You might just have to put up with its issues just because its so beautiful ;)

I can't be the only one who finds this rumour kind of ridiculous!   The idea that they can spec out a camera, build a working prototype and in heavy testing suddenly discover that it 'eats batteries'. Haha that's laughable. The engineers would know the power consumption of the sensor and processor from very early on, way before the testing stages.   Testing is to iron out bugs in firmware and for minor handling / button changes.   Another way to spot a bullshit rumour is when it says there are 'several sensors' being tested. The R&D work required to design and build a sensor is MASSIVE. Does anyone really think Canon or Sony build 3 sensors of widly different specs before testing each one in some bodies which will eventually end up as the same camera? That's a heck of a way to waste money, building major parts you'll never use.   Those who contribute rumours like this don't know anything about how the product development ACTUALLY WORKS.   Maybe Canon does have a medium format camera in development. Everything else is just bull!

I was going to ask about a wider and a longer addition to the FF lineup.  It's very cool that these are in the works.   These seem like the perfect answer to folks trying to do anamorphic with full-frame sensors and beating their heads against a wall.

I think you guys are getting close though. There is something natural about these, so much better then video copilot haha and the flare filter I got now just does one big fat horizontal flare so bravo for adding some nice subtle effects in there.   I would say Rich it would be nice to see the same test both with and without the filter so we can see what it adds and what flaring happens with the lens you are using.

I have a LowPro Flipside 500, which is huge, and I love it, but I'm not sure It's big enough for all of your gear. It fits a BMCC with it's Switronix battery pack, a 5D3 and 6 lenses.   Sounds like a lot of gear, you might consider...

Not owning either camera, I feel this is my sweet spot of expertise :)  The clips I see from the 5Dmiii are staggeringly good.  ML is probably more stable for that camera because the users are more professional.  HOWEVER, my general experience with ML RAW is that the devs spend 98% of their time on new features and 2% of their time on stability.  So if you are going to use ML RAW, once you have your camera working the way you want it DO NOT CHANGE hacks in the middle of your project.  

Apple spend years in secret R'n'D without making any announcements, then shock the world just as production is well underway. For example the iPad prototype was developed first, but it was kept a secret until they perfected the tech with the iPhone. Now that's patience, class and professionalism.

Just uploaded a test I did trying to see how the 5D raw would compare to the BMCC and the ARRI Alexa.   You can watch it here:   https://vimeo.com/72566458     Feel free to repost!